HALLOWEEN HORROR CHALLENGE movie 19 - HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR, THE HOUSE THAT BLED TO DEATH

HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR (1980) - Ep #5 THE HOUSE THAT BLED TO DEATH
Synapse Films
Full Frame

Yet another episode in the 1980 British horror TV series. This one with the very scary sounding name THE HOUSE THAT BLED TO DEATH. Unfortunately it is no where near as frightening as the title suggests. 

The episode starts with an elderly couple enjoying a cup of tea. The man shiftily poisons his wife. When she is paralyzed he takes a large middle eastern knife off the wall and proceeds to carve her up. Flash forward a couple of year and the house where this atrocity occurred is no being sold to a young couple with a little girl. The first day there the little girl sees blood pouring out of the wall and the wife is almost gassed when she can't shut off a valve. The husband of course sees none of this. The knives from the first scene reappearing after they throw them out. They become friendly with the couple across the street (who spy on them fucking in a scene that I am sure didn't make it to American TV). Soon the family cat shows up dead and mutilated and the friends from across the way are being tormented anytime they are over. The haunting is well underway and the ghosts of the previous owners are apparently none to happy about the new family. 

The whole thing is way slower than it should be as things just seem to limp along, until a set piece happens. Though the kids birthday party that turns into a literal bloodbath is pretty awesome. I also give them credit for the double twist ending that in fact kind of makes it all worth while. 

I had high hopes for this episode as the title is great. But it is only a middling effort for the series. 

Review © Andrew Copp

I also watched the Season three Halloween episode of COMMUNITY- HORROR FICTION IN 7 EASY STEPS on Hulu. COMMUNITY is consistently the funniest show on TV (though now BOB'S BURGERS is giving it a run for its money) and I love their holiday episodes. 

This one has Britta believing one of the gang is a psychopath because of the Jungian psych tests she forced them all to take. So each of the group proceeds to tell a ghost story while Britta tries to figure out who is crazy.  Abed tells his own twisted, hyper logical take on the typical cabin in the woods tale, Troy has a great tale of him an Abed as "Awesome Fighter Pilots" being tormented by a psychotic mad scientist. Pierce tells an obscenely racist tale of punk black kids (Troy and Abed - in brown face) trying to break into his place and interrupting him sexing up the ladies of the group. Annie has the best as she tells a Twilight like tale of lusty vampires that ends with a werewolf twist. Naturally all of them are crazy, with the results not quite being what anyone thought because of Jeff. 

The episode is a great homage to many different horror films from CANDYMAN to EVIL DEAD to FRIDAY THE 13th pt 2. Great stuff all around. 

Review © Andrew Copp

Naughty Twins

TWINS OF EVIL (1971)
D. JOHN HOUGH
SYNAPSE FILMS
1.66

This Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack from the fine folks at Synapse Films represents the first time this Hammer Production has seen the light of day uncut in the US, and what a sight it is fully restored. Eye popping gorgeous in full High definition this is one of those discs that horror fans have been waiting for.

The movie revolves around the village of Karnstein in the 1800's where witch burning has become a contact sport. Any woman who doesn’t tow the party line can and will be branded a witch or heretic and burned alive in the name of God. Heading the burnings is one Gustav Weil (Played by Hammer regular Peter Cushing, bringing great gravitas to the role). He leads a gang of “holy men” that are basically repressed church goers looking to find their kicks by abusing women. Into town comes Gustav's orphaned twin nieces Maria and Frieda (Playboy centerfolds Mary and Madeleine Collinson) to live with their uncle. Maria is the virginal one, while Frieda is the more outrageous and daring one. She catches the horny eye of the evil Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas) who practices Satanism and debauchery in his castle on the hill. But because he is a count and basically owns the town he is off limits to the witch hunters. Soon he has cast his spell and turned Frieda into a vampire leaving her to leave a trail of blood across the countryside, and her sister holding the blame.

The film is the third in Hammer's lesbian vampire trilogy that are all very loosely born from the novel CARMILLA. Though oddly enough no one involved in any of the films would admit to any of the lesbian overtones. Of the three films this one is actually the tamest of the three, though it is still pretty outrageous for both Hammer, and 1971. More interesting is how a majority of the movie is very anti-authority, and calls out the church in particular, and makes some very strong comments about repression. Even though the Count Karnstein is the villain of the piece, he is often portrayed is just a free willed person. For the first half of the film he is actually a preferable evil to the witch hunters. Naturally by the last reel the film comes back around to making the church the hero, but it almost feels like an after thought. The movie is truly subversive in dealing with everything up to that point. There is even some off handed discussion of incest thrown into the mix. 

The BLU RAY/DVD is jam packed with extras including a featuring length documentary on the trilogy called THE FLESH AND THE FURY X-POSING TWINS OF EVIL which is actually worth the price of the disc. Easily one of the most in depth films of these types I've seen. There is also TV Spots, trailers, an Isolated music and FX track, Deleted scenes and a fun featurette on props and effects from Hammer films.

If you are a Hammer fan, vampire fan or just like great horror films, there is no good reason to let this one get past you.

Review © Andrew Copp